Shell has announced that by the end of 2022, between 7,000 and 9,000 jobs will be dropped from the company worldwide. It is also making moves to produce sustainable energy.

Shell currently employs 83,000 people around the globe, almost 10,000 of which are in the Netherlands, reports NOS. It’s headquarters in The Hague and Pernis include many of these employees. The multinational company has not yet specified where these jobs will be removed. It is expected that these changes will save the company between €1.7 billion and €2.1 billion.

Hit hard by the corona crisis

Shell found itself in the red this year, as demand for fuel plummeted and with it, the demand for oil. Shell’s CEO decided that certain management layers needed to be scrapped in order to streamline processes between site technicians and himself. Hence, at least 7,000 positions are no longer needed.

Changes for the climate

In an interview with Ben van Beurden, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, Beurden highlighted that drastic reorganization is necessary to reach the company’s goal of being a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050 or sooner. In other words, Shell is going green.

He admits that reorganisation is an “extremely difficult process”, but a necessary one for the future of the company. “We have to be net zero in all our operations, which means major changes at refineries, chemicals sites, on-shore and offshore production facilities. But it also means that we have to change the type of products that we sell,” Beurden said.

The oil company now also sells gas, and is collaborating with multiple wind farms in the North Sea. Shell will also be involved in the construction of 69 huge windmills with a rotor diameter of 200 meters. These will produce 759 megawatts, which is enough to supply about 750,000 households with power.

What do you think of Shell’s reorganisation? Let us know in the comments below.

Kent Smith/Photographic Services/Shell International Limited

Dutch coronavirus patients are now becoming less ill than patients in the first wave, according to new research from the Nederlandse Internisten Vereniging (NIV) (Dutch Internists Association). 

The study compared the health of 90 patients treated in March and April with a group of a further 90 patients treated two weeks ago.

Significantly, the number of patients transferred to the ICU has now been halved. Equally significant, the average hospital stay has been reduced by one third. Patients in the ICU in March and April were admitted for an average of 22 days. In May and June, this had been reduced to 16.

The results are in line with a report from the Dutch Association for Intensive Care (NVIC) who also previously reported stays in intensive care units have been reduced.

Still ill, but not as serious

The research comes as coronavirus infections mount, forcing the Dutch government to implement new measures as of yesterday evening.

NIV director Samara de Jong-Jaber told NU.nl that part of the improvement is more knowledge about treatment methods. “In the beginning everyone was searching,” she says. She emphasises that patients can still become seriously ill.

However, De Jong-Jaber says that the data does match the general feeling in hospitals. “We have been seeing for some time that there is a difference between the first and second wave,” she says. “This is a first official observation, which offers room for further research.”

Hospitals scramble to prepare

But hospitals aren’t out of the woods yet. The NIV says that despite less patients heading to the ICU, regular wards are filling up faster. The Dutch health system remains under pressure.

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Feature Image: ©JazzIRT/Canva.com

Whilst previously only the regions of Antwerp and Brussels were orange-risk, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that this status will now apply to the entire country of Belgium. 

Dutch residents are advised to only travel to Belgium if necessary. This adjustment in travel advice follows Belgium’s decision to classify regions of the Netherlands, such as South-Holland, North-Holland and Utrecht as red-risk zones. Travel from these regions to Belgium was already discouraged.

Given the current spike in coronavirus cases across the Netherlands, this is understandable.

Reisadvies #Belgie: Reizigers uit heel Nederland worden (afhankelijk vd provincie) geadviseerd of verplicht in quarantaine te gaan en zich te testen als ze in België aankomen.

Daarom gaat het reisadvies naar ‘oranje’: alleen noodzakelijke reizen:https://t.co/pdzaGr1VAg pic.twitter.com/bOZVnqn3oN

— 24/7 BZ (@247BZ) September 28, 2020

If you do travel to Belgium…

If you must travel to Belgium from these regions, there are certain restrictions you must follow. Travellers are expected to take a corona test if they are staying for at least 48 hours. They must then quarantine for two weeks. If you are there for less than two weeks but more than 48 hours, then you are still expected to quarantine.

Exceptions to the measures

If, however, you have travelled to Belgium for necessary reasons such as a business meeting or a funeral, then you may interrupt the quarantine period for this purpose.

In fact, quarantine and testing is not necessary in a number of cases. For those who are only in the country for less than 48 hours, a test is not required, nor is quarantine.

On top of this, those who are not travelling from North-Holland, South-Holland, Utrecht or any other red-risk zone, are not strictly required to take a test or quarantine. However, such measures are still strongly advised.

Returning to the Netherlands

Those who are returning from Brussels-Capital Region, the city of Antwerp, the province of Liège or the province of Walloon Brabant, are expected to quarantine themselves for 10 days.

Again, quarantine is not mandatory for those returning from other regions of Belgium but it is strongly advised.

Have your travel plans been affected by coronavirus? Let us know in the comments below! 

Feature Image: Tobias Cornille/ Unsplash

Yesterday evening, Prime Minister Rutte announced new national measures for the coronavirus, effectively bringing the Netherlands back to where it was before the summer. On top of these, major cities across the Netherlands are now urgently asking the public to wear face masks in interior public spaces.

The mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, explained that it is difficult to enforce a mouth mask obligation, so instead the mask requirement comes as urgent advice, reports RTL Nieuws. Rotterdam, The Hague and Eindhoven are advising the same, saying that shops can turn away customers not wearing masks. This applies to any public interior space, such as restaurants, museums, libraries and government buildings.

Losing our grip on the virus

Amsterdam in particular has an alarming rate of new cases, and has been classed as one of the worst regions in western Europe for the spread of the virus. GGDs are overwhelmed with tests and can no longer trace where infections have come from. Infections rates and deaths across the Netherlands have exceeded records from May and continue to rise.

Halsema is pressing the necessity to drastically reduce these figures, for people to work from home as much as possible, and for physical meetings to only occur if necessary, reports De Telegraaf.

Importance of face masks

Cabinet and city mayors expect the new regulations to result in 40% less new infections over the next three weeks. But if these measures do not work, stricter measures will be put in place.

“Only if everyone makes an effort now and adheres to the measures can we have high hopes for better times in the near future,” says Halsema. “We really do that together as a society. We can get the crisis under control with the behavior of all of us.”

What do you think of the new coronavirus measures? Let us know in the comments below.

Feature Image: Arturo Rey/Unsplash

The measures announced in a press conference last night were not entirely supported by the Outbreak Management Team (OMT). Instead, the majority of the OMT wanted stricter measures implemented on a national scale. 

That’s what Andreas Voss, professor of infection prevention and member of the OMT, told NOS. The cabinet chose to continue to distinguish between different regions, while also implementing some new national measures.

“For the sake of clarity of the citizen, I would have appreciated it if everyone supported one policy,” Voss said on Nieuwsuur.

A rule for widespread mandatory face-masks was notably missing from the latest measures announced last night, although the three biggest cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague recommend wearing face masks in shops. OMT members were reportedly divided over the advice.

“I think you should have done that nationally and not only in the big cities,” said Voss. “Besides: which big cities? Nijmegen is not mentioned. There are also many infections there.”

Fauci steps in

Meanwhile, the prominent American doctor and director for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci, has commented on the Dutch approach to face masks — with confusion over the lack thereof.

Fauci advised the director of RIVM, Jaap van Dissel, “to look at the rapidly increasing amount of data on the importance and effectiveness of masks.” Van Dissel has commented several times that non-medical face masks barely stop virus particles, giving the wearer a false sense of security.

“Regardless of the country, I would advise people to seriously consider wearing masks to prevent transmission,” Fauci said. “Enough information indicates that masks are very beneficial in preventing transmission and getting an infection.”

What do you think of the latest measures introduced by the Dutch government? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

Feature Image: The White House/Flickr/Public Domain

Following the leak of rumoured national measures earlier today, Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Minister for Health Hugo De Jonge have fronted the press once more to clarify the new restrictions. 

As coronavirus cases continue to rise throughout the country, there has been much speculation surrounding the Dutch government’s approach to coronavirus. Rutte and De Jonge have previously said that they are hesitant to impose any new measures that may suffocate an already damaged economy. The introduction of strict measures has also caused much debate surrounding the question of individual freedom.

But infection numbers are rising way too fast, and thus here we are, another press conference and another set of measures — perhaps relaxed compared to the rest of the Europe but pretty heavy for the Dutch.

Rutte and De Jonge’s main message

Tomorrow, starting at 18.00, there will be new national measures. Measures which were before only thought to be needed at a regional level, but things have changed for the worst the last few days. The number of infections is so high at a regional level, that the government has now concluded that we need nationwide measures to get ahead of this second wave.

De Jonge also stated that we all needed to get our heads into countering corona, and Dutch people were getting more and more relaxed with the current corona measures. People weren’t washing their hands or working from home as much as they did previously and as such, this was reflected in the rapidly rising number of corona infections of the past weeks.

Even with the measures taken today, De Jonge expects that there will be at least 400 people in ICU beds halfway through October. All in all a serious situation and the tone throughout the press conference was serious and grim.

And thus, as the number of high risk regions have increased, Rutte and De Jonge have decided to take a stronger stance against the second wave. The Dutch government have introduced the following national and regional measures.

National measures as announced in the press conference

Rutte and De Jonge have confirmed that the new national measures are as follows, these will be active for (at least) the following 3 weeks and will be in effect after Tuesday 6.00 pm.

• The maximum number of people who can meet (without living together) is four. No more than 4 friends at one table.
• Only have 3 people over on top of the number of people in a household (urgent advice)
• Only 30 people will be allowed to congregate in public spaces, this includes restaurants (mayors can make an exception if needed for the public good)
• In outdoor areas, you can apply for a meeting of maximum 40 people.
• All businesses in the catering industry will have to close after 10pm. Last customers in at 9pm. To stop ‘alcoholic moments’ in which people transmit the virus.
• Sport games, professional and amateur can no longer have a physically present audience. Also because these games attract a lot of traveling folks. Sport canteens will also be closed for these 3 weeks.
• All contact professions are required to keep records of the contact details of their customers (barbershops and such)
• Shopping carts will be required in supermarkets and special hours will be arranged for vulnerable shoppers (this might take a few days).
• Shop alone, it’s not a fun outing. Shops need to make sure that people can keep 1,5 metre distance
• Shops in The Hague, Amsterdam and Rotterdam can refuse people who don’t want to wear a mouth mask.
• Also lastly but important, work from home, unless this is really not possible. So it’s back to the situation from before the summer. (Rutte: no teambuilding sessions)

And for those wondering, the regular corona measures are still valid. We’ve seen the government also change the announced measures slightly after the press conferences, this is something we can’t control or know of course.

Rutte also said “We know it’s a hard pill to swallow for all those entrepreneurs who have already gone through so much by now, but sadly, only together can we keep corona down”

Both men hope to see an effect on the corona numbers in 10 days to 2 weeks, otherwise there will be more drastic measures or even a return to the ‘intelligent’ lockdown of March till May.

Mouth masks still not in favour

There has been much debate surrounding whether or not masks should be made mandatory in order to battle coronavirus. Whilst some see it as an issue of freedom, others such as the Red Team, a group of independent experts have argued to the cabinet that masks are necessary in the battle against the virus.

The cabinet is allowing and advising shopkeepers in the big three cities to voluntarily refuse shoppers who don’t wear mouth masks but Rutte also reiterated that mouth masks aren’t the big answer to corona. So it’s still a no-go for obligatory nationwide mouth masks and thus the ‘soft’ stance on masks by the Dutch continues.

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Feature Image: still press conference